Hungry under the Emergency Administration

I find it a little weird that, while the Bush administration is
bending over backwards to loosen a slew of health and safety rules that
regulate the behavior of contractors involved in rebuilding post-Katrina, they
didn't bother to adjust mad cow meat importation rules so that people in need
of food could get some.

What is the policymaking logic here? The central concern is clearly not
actually the health of the people eating the food, because if that were the
case, we would not be offering them up to other people. Nor would we
be reading things like:

The Agriculture Department said it is not suggesting that the meals are unsafe
but that they do not meet importation standards.

My first guess would be, protecting the interests of the agricultural
industry.

Nevermind those clean air regulations. This is an emergency. But, don't even
think about touching the mad cow rules.